Cuero: The Pharmacy and Medical Museum of Texas

Two storey building with a balcony and a wrought iron railing in a commercial area. Named Pharmacy Medical Museum, building dated to 1889
Interior of a drug store in the early 1900s showing counters and shelves on both sides of narrow space and staircase at center back going to second floor

L.L. Buttery Drug Store, early 1900s, now the museum. (Pharmacy & Medical Museum of Texas)

Huge crowds of people lining a commercial street and sitting on balconies and roofs to watch a large flock of white turkeys walking down the street

Drug store is seen behind the U.S. flag during Cuero’s famous turkey trot.

Four people standing in front of a two storey commericial bulding with covered walkway and sign on top saying Reuss Drug Store

L.L. Buttery Drug Store, early 1900s, now the museum.

Group of men inside a narrow store with counters on both sides, dated to 1875

J. M. Reuss & Son Drugstore, 1875. (Pharmacy & Medical Museum of Texas)

Students in a chemistry lab ini the 1800s. Bottles on shelves, beakers, Bunsen burners visible

Pharmacy School in Galveston, 1800s. (Pharmacy & Medical Museum of Texas)

Colorized postcard of Reuss Memorial Hospital in Cuero texas showing large buliding with several covered balconies

Reuss Memorial Hospital, opened in 1916 by Joseph Henry Reuss in memory of his father, J.M. Reuss. (Pharmacy & Medical Museum of Texas)

Joseph Reuss started his small pharmacy in 1845 at the seaport of Indianola – the port through which thousands of German immigrants were arriving annually. In 1875, after a major hurricane, he relocated the business to Cuero. Reuss’s is said to be Texas’s longest continuously operating pharmacy.

Located in the National Historic District in Downtown Cuero, the Pharmacy and Medical Museum of Texas resides in the beautifully preserved 1889 Main Street building that housed Reuss Pharmacy for 100 years. Within the original wall cabinets are bottles and other pharmacy artifacts from the 1800s and 1900s. The display counters and pharmacist’s preparation bench remain where they were in 1889.

The Pharmacy and Medical Museum of Texas

  • Hours: Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Sunday, 12 - 3 p.m.
  • Admission: None
  • 114 E. Main St., Cuero, TX
  • 361-485-8090
  • Visit Website
  • National Register of Historic Places
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